The quality and cleanliness of endfaces of optical-fiber connectors represent important factors for achieving adequate system performance of optical communication networks. Indeed, any contamination of or damage on the mating surface of an optical-fiber connector may severely degrade signal integrity. Optical-fiber inspection microscope probes are commonly employed to visually inspect and/or to analyze the optical-fiber endface of an optical-fiber connector at installation or during maintenance of optical communication networks, in order to verify the quality of the optical-fiber connection.
Inspection of multiple-fiber connectors (MFCs), which are commonly used to mate fiber ribbon cables, is particularly challenging since each optical-fiber endface is to be inspected individually.
Some solutions exist to acquire images and inspection information on optical-fiber endfaces in an MFC. Available solutions move the field of view of a microscope probe over the surface the MFC in order to successively observe and inspect each optical fiber endface one after the other. Mechanical means are typically employed to move the microscope probe relative to the MFC in a transverse fashion from one fiber endface to the next. U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,439 (Cassady), U.S. Pat. No. 7,239,788 (Villeneuve) and U.S. Pat. No. 8,104,976 (Zhou et al.) are all examples of solutions relying on such relative mechanical displacement means. These solutions are implemented in an accessory, often termed a “tip”. The tip is attached to the inspection microscope probe and provides the relative transverse displacement of the microscope probe with respect to the MFC-under-test, which in turn allows for a selective alignment of any particular optical-fiber endface with the imaging axis of the microscope probe.
A drawback of this approach is that it renders the microscope probe and tip assembly fragile when submitted to shocks and vibrations. Another drawback is that the movement needed for this approach is imprecise due to the mechanical play associated with the moving parts inside the tip, which may lead to uncertainty as to which fiber is inspected. It may sometimes be impossible to reliably identify which fiber endface is currently being inspected, thus resulting in an unreliable inspection, and the need to repeat the process. This may be particularly observed in applications where the MFC-under-test is recessed into a bulkhead adapter that is mounted on a patch panel. In this case, the tip is manually inserted into the bulkhead adapter for inspection of the MFC, which may result in the inadvertent application of a force couple on the tip and an uncontrolled positioning with respect to the fiber endfaces.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for providing an improved, more robust, inspection system for inspecting optical-fiber endfaces of MFCs that can alleviate at least some of the above-mentioned drawbacks.